I like my d100 games, and in the latest round of garage reorganizations, I pulled them out and I am working on space to shelve them. I enjoy these games too much to store them away, and I want them back.
The big losers this round are 5E (except for Tales of the Valiant), Shadowrun, Mechwarrior, Pathfinder 2, and a bunch of other games I don't have time for. I may come back to them, or I may not.
The big winners this round are my OSR games, Traveller, Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, my 2d6 games, my d100 games, and a few others. GURPS and Dungeon Crawl Classics are solid and staying on my new display-style shelving.
Specifically, Runequest brought me back, again. This game is not that large, and I was only missing one book to have a complete set. I ordered that and I will be back in these lands and exploring. Runequest has this established lore, and it has not been invaded by the stereotypical nu-fantasy tropes, planar beings, or all these 5E variant lineages. Runequest has a wonderful set of its own, established within lore, each with a wonderful lore and history, and the game isn't constantly porting in new things.
Runequest is diversity, history, homeland, plus culture, and that is the perfect mix.
5E is "bland options galore, all the same" like fruity pastel marshmallows in a breakfast cereal. It is lazy diversity with no world, talent, place, sense of home, culture, history, or effort put into it.
It is good to have Elemental Lords as a race, right? What do I do with them? I dunno. Where is their home? Greyhawk? The Forgotten Realms? I dunno. Did they come here from the planes and are looking for a home? I dunno. Corporate wants them in here. They are in the setting.
Sure, "use your imagination" is how they are intended to be used, but I can buy games that do that work for me and give me a higher-quality experience. I can read about them, learn about them, live in their culture, and think about how it would be to play one of them in the campaign. Runequest did the work. D&D doesn't, and to be fair, many games don't. Even some of my OSR games.
ACKS II is an exception, that game is an amazing OSR game that does put in the work, and it covers a similar bronze-age world like Runequest. There is something about these myth and legend games that is a step above the generic pseudo-Renaissance fantasy slop we get these days.
With all these generic fantasy games coming out, Daggerheart, Draw Steel, Cosmere, D&D 2024, Nimble 5e, and so many others - they all feel like they are treading the same ground. Everyone is doing this cosplay fantasy genre, and one game can't be told apart from the other. The only difference is the type, number, and size of dice you roll. Many of them are Powered by the Apocalypse clones with different dicing and narrative mechanics.
Runequest?
That is its own thing.
That is what makes it special.
No comments:
Post a Comment